Judy eBook

Perkins came and saw and conquered as usual.
The girls laughed until the tears ran down their
cheeks to see the battle. One by one the crabs
were picked up and dropped into a big kettle until
at last it was full.

“And now you young ladies had best go out,”
said Perkins, firmly, “while I cook them.”

It is well to draw a veil over the tragic fate of
the kettleful of blue crabs, but when Anne next saw
them they were beautifully boiled, and red—­red
as the scarlet of her bathing-suit.

All the afternoon the little girls, under Perkins’
skilful guidance learned a lesson in expert cookery,
and at last, as a dozen perfectly browned and parsley-decorated
beauties were laid on a platter, Judy breathed an
ecstatic sigh. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
she murmured.

“Yes, Miss, that they are,” and Perkins
surveyed them as an artist lets his glance linger
on a finished masterpiece. He raised the platter
to carry it to the dining-room, but as he turned towards
the door he stopped and set it down quickly.

The Judge stood on the threshold, his face white with
excitement. In his hands was a letter, and his
voice shook as he spoke.

“It’s nothing bad, Perkins,” he
said, and Judy, as she faced him, saw that his eyes
were bright with some new hope. “It’s
nothing bad. But I’ve had a letter—­a
strange, strange letter, Perkins—­and I must
go on a journey to-night—­a journey to the
north—­to Newfoundland, Perkins.”

CHAPTER XVII

MOODS AND MODELS

Anne and Judy were almost overcome by the mystery
of the Judge’s departure. Not a word could
they get out of the reticent Perkins, however, as
to the reasons for the sudden flitting, and the Judge
had simply said when pressed with questions:
“Important business, my dear, which may result
rather pleasantly for you. Mrs. Adams will take
care of you and Anne while I am gone, which I hope
won’t be long.”

The day that he left it rained, and the day after,
and the day after that, and on the fourth day, when
the sea was gray and the sky was gray and the world
seemed blotted out by the blinding torrents, Judy,
who had been pacing through the house like a caged
wild thing, came into the library, and found Anne
curled up in the window-seat with a book.

“I came down here with all sorts of good resolutions,”
she said, fiercely, as she stood by the window, looking
out, “but if this rain doesn’t stop, I
shall do something desperate. I hate to be shut
in.”

Anne did not look up. She was reading a book
breathlessly, and not until Judy had jerked it out
of her hand and had flung it across the room did she
come to herself with a little cry.